Right Beside You
by Lore-ShipperSister
Summary: Bosco faces a challange that may cost him his life....
1. Default Chapter

The ringing of bullets still echoes in my ears as I slowly lift my head from the floor.. Bosco is covering me with his body... acting like a shield.. he managed to dive out of the way in time.. I breath a sigh of relief when he asks me if I was allright.. if he was talkin to me that meant he was o.k.... I just needed to know that he was allright.. that him and I escaped from what just happened.. this latest attach on us from Mann has left us shaken.. we never expected him to send people to a hospital crawlin with cops and try to kill us..  
  
I feel Bosco shift from me and helps me to my feet as we survey the damage.. Ty crawls out from behind the vending machine that took most of the hits.. there was candy everywhere... Cruz was still lying on the floor, not moving.. I bend over to look at her and she is still breathing.. but she's been hit.. we have to get her help.. as much as I hate the bitch I don't think I would want to let her die..  
  
"Bosco we have to get her help..."  
  
He nods and bolts out of the room to get a doctor.. beside me Ty is checking himself over for any wounds.. we all have cuts and scraps from diving to the floor and then by the flying glass...  
  
"What the hell just happened?"  
  
"I don't know Ty.. but I think that Mann just heard that we survived the bomb that was in the car..."  
  
"But I didn't have anything to do with Joey Mann's death.. why me?"  
  
"Because you were unfortunate enough to be in here with the three of us..."  
  
I look at Ty and pat him on the back as Bosco comes back with a Doctor and a barrage of nurses that whisk us into treatment rooms to make sure that we are allright... I never let my eyes leave Bosco for a second.. not even to check where I was walking.. I nearly met a doorframe on a personal level but I didn't care.. as long as I could convince myself that he was allright that was all that mattered to me..  
  
a few hours later  
  
Bosco finds me and we leave the hospital together.. both of us feeling rather lucky to have survived a murder attempt by a powerful drug lord with a hard on for killing Bosco and myself.. Rose wasn't so fortunate however.. she was still in a coma.. I told Bosco that he should go and get a shower and get a change of clothes.. if she changed then they would contact him... reluctantly he agreed.. only with the condition that I come with him... he would lend me a pair of sweats....justifying it by telling me that he would never forgive himself if something happened to me.. again.. and it was him saying that to me that changed my mind.. I mean I had no Fred or Kids to come home to..  
  
We climb into the RMP that Swersky told us to take back to the house.. from there we could walk back to his place.. it wasn't that far.. only a few blocks.. He gets the door for me and I climb wearily into the seat..   
  
I watch Faith get into the car and I go to close the door.. I feel soo damn lucky to have her.. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost her too.. I lost my brother.. my Mother is in a coma.. I have lost almost everything that has ever mattered to me.. but I still had Faith.. as long as I have her.. I can still live.. she is the only thing that keeps me hanging on..  
  
I close the door to the RMP and head around the front to get into the drivers seat.. I just reach the handle and opened the door when I hear a gunshot.. instantly I feel the bullet rip though my back and though my stomach as I slide to the floor.. on the way down I hear Faith screamin out my name.. as she ducks to the floor.. A second shot has her cowering on the floor.. I hear more shots.. but I realize as the world grow fuzzy that they are from the cops that were posted at the door..  
  
"BOSCO!!! BOSCO ANSWER ME!! BOSCO!!"  
  
"I'm allright Faith.. I will be allright" I want to answer back to her but I cant make my mouth form the words.. nor do I have the voice to say them...  
  
Faith has crawled over on the floor to my side as she cradles my head in her hands and I feel her tears fall on my cheeks as she begs me to hang on.. I have to hang on.. I love her too much.. I cant loose her when I just got her back again... the world fades to a hazy shade of grey as I hear Faith's voice ring in my ears....  
  
The Haze is starting to clear.. I sit up and realize that I am in the Trauma room.. but wait a sec.. I am standing beside the gurney.. and I am still lying on it.. around me they are working to stop the bleeding that the bullet caused, and they are sayin all that medical mumbo jumbo to each other.. this sounds serious.. but I am still alive... I think.. but if I am still alive what the hell am I doing here?  
  
I look outside the room to see Faith being supported by Sully as she bawls into his shoulder.. once and a while she will look over her shoulder at me and then bawl again.. I want to hold her.. I want to let her know that I am allright.. I watch the doctors work on me.  
  
"We have a stable rhythm, hand 2 units of O-Neg on the rapid infuser, we have to get him up to surgery.."  
  
I turn away from it all and head towards Faith.. I just want to hold her.. but as I draw near the doors I notice that they arnt opening.. what the hell?? I get closer and still they don't open.. I take a running leap at them.. I hear the doctors say something about getting me upstairs and I hear them wheel the gurney past me.. I squeak out the doors as they open.. I reach out to Faith to caress her cheek and my hand passes though her face.. WHAT THE HELL?? I look at my hand in disbelief, that is when the voice behind me catches my attention..  
  
"Its no use Mo.. you can do that all you want the same thing will happen.."  
  
I turn around and there is Mikey standing where my body had been.. what the hell?  
  
"Mikey? Am I dead?"  
  
He laughs and hugs me.. he feels as real as Faith did when I was covering her earlier today.. I feel a tear slip past my eye as I feel my Brother's embrace.. I thought that I would never see him again... even though he has been a drug addict and a dealer for a good part of his adult life.. we were still kids together and we had each other to lean on when things got rough, especially when we saw dad beat the crap outta ma..  
  
"You aren't dead Mo.. you are just in a space in between the worlds.. this isn't heaven and it isn't hell.. you are in a kind of limbo.. while your body still lives you stay here.. and I am here with you.. you need to make peace with what has happened..."  
  
"Bull shit Mikey.. I don't need to make peace with what happened.. I need to find out where that son of a bitch is and how the hell I can get to him.. I need to make him pay for what he did to you.."  
  
I look at Faith again.. she is holding my tie.. she has her face buried in it and her tears soak into the fabric.. staining it a deeper blue.. I have never wanted to go over and wrap my arms around her more than I did at that moment.. instead I just walk over to her and whisper into her ear..  
  
"Faith.. I'll be allright.. don't worry about me.. they'll take good care of me.. I love you Faith..."  
  
I see her stop crying and look at me.. she must have heard what I said to her.. because she had a small smile play about her lips before her face crumbles again and she dissolves into tears again..  
  
Mikey puts a hand on my shoulder and leads me to the door.. I get an odd sensation as I pass right though it..  
  
"Don't worry you get used to it.."  
  
"Mikey I am soo sorry I didn't protect you... God man I miss you already.. Its all my fault.. I should have made Cruz back off of you.."  
  
"Mo it isn't your fault,.. I should have never made the deal with that bitch anyhow.. trust me I have something saved for her..."  
  
He looks over at me with a wry smile on his face as he says that.. I hope that it is something good. Knowing him if he is a ghost.. or of you wanna call it that.. he'll probably milk it and haunt the bitch...  
  
Mikey takes my hand and we pass though the wall to face the street.. the lines blur together and I am standing in the House.. how the hell did I get here?? In front of me is my locker and I can see inside it the picture that I had plastered to the back of it.. it is the picture of Faith and I at graduation.. we looked so happy together.. at that point I didn't know her very well but I did know that she was going to be my partner.. I treasured that picture..  
  
My heart aches to return back to the days where we were tighter than ever.. the days before I decided to mess everything up... the days before Cruz... the days before I damn near got her killed.. I still hear the gunshot ringing in my ears..  
  
"It wasn't your fault you know Mo.. she wanted to be there for you... even after you went to Cruz.. she still wanted to be there for you.."  
  
"I know.. I had to mess it all up.. I had to become part of Anti-Crime.. I was only thinking of myself.. I wasn't thinking about her...on how she would feel.."  
  
I walk over to Faith's locker.. and inside on top of the shelf is her patrol hat.. inside I take a peek and see that she has a picture of the family.. they are all smiling.. and beside the picture of the kids and Fred is one of me.. I feel my heart catch in my throat as I realize that I had a place in her cap beside her family..  
  
"She has had that there since your first year anniversary.. one year since you became partners...even when you went with Cruz she still kept that picture.."  
  
I feel Mikey take my hand and whisk me to my next destination.. I don't know where that will be.. I just have to trust in him to lead the way.. I arrive in her apartment.. at least I think that its her apartment.. I walk though it taking it all in.. the furniture is gone.. there is no TV.. the kids rooms are empty.. the only things left in the whole apartment belong to Faith.. something wasn't right.. where was everything else.. where were the kids.. where was Fred??  
  
"He left her... he left her in the middle of her shift so she came home to this empty apartment with only a note to say that it was over... giving her a place to meet with Fred to talk about why he left her... it isn't fair Mo... not to her.. you know that.."  
  
I shake my head in disbelief... "why didn't she tell me?"  
  
"Because you were mourning me.. he left the day after you found me Mo... she didn't want to burden you with another problem when you already had so much to deal with.."  
  
Again Mikey took my hand and lead me off to another unknown destination.... And left me to figure out what I had to make peace with..... 


	2. The Angel

I look around at our new destination.. were under our bridge.. this is where Faith and I come all the time when we need some quiet time.. or we wanna duck calls for a while.. or sometimes just to talk.... We have shared many things under this bridge, confessions, tears, I have shared some of my darkest fears with Faith under this bridge..  
  
"She's told you many things under this bridge hasn't she?"  
  
I nod my head as flashbacks pass though my eyes.. her telling me that she was pregnant with Charlie.. her fears about Fred turning into her Father.. her fears about having another baby.. but the one that stands out in my mind is the one that we had where she said that our relationship was changing.. and that she didn't like it... it was when Cruz had her claws in me... I had tried to re-assure her that I was still there for her... but like so many screw ups in my life.. it just came out wrong...  
  
I suddenly get the sense that there is someone else right behind my back... I turn around and standing behind me is Faith.. but it doesn't look like Faith.. well it does but she has a pair of wings on her back that arch above her shoulders.. I feel Mikey grip my hand tighter and he pulls me closer to him as he realizes that we are not alone...  
  
"You cant take him... I wont let you take him.. I still have to help him find what he is looking for.. its not his time yet and you tell the gatekeeper that too!"  
  
Faith gets a disappointed look on her face and I stare in awe as she spreads her wings and takes off into the sky, instantly that image is seared into my mind.. and then it is replaced by a stab of fear... if I just saw Faith then she must be dead... and that was her spirit.. before I can utter a word Mikey pats my shoulder,  
  
"Angels of Death can be elusive Mo... that wasn't Faith, but the angel coming for you... I wont let you go until I help you figure out why you are here.. and then you will have the choice.. to stay with me or go with her.. and there is a third choice but we'll get to that later.."  
  
I shake my head and I feel myself being lead to yet another place, it's the diner Faith asked me to meet her at.. we stand infront of the same booth that she asked me to meet her in.. it was when she told me that she was coming back the next day and she was coming back as my partner... I couldn't have that.. I had hurt her so badly.. not only had I got her shot but I had marred everything that I held dear with her.. the trust.. the friendship.. my head hangs as I recall that conversation.. she told me to ask Swersky to put us back together again.. I didn't want to because I didn't deserve her anymore.. I didn't deserve someone like that.. someone who would blow the pain away with her soothing words.. the only person who I would trust with everything that I had... the only one who I would completely trust to have my back when I needed her..  
  
"I didn't want to do it Mikey.. I didn't want to be her partner again.. I wanted to but I just couldn't do it.. I nearly killed her... I didn't deserve to be her partner again.. I don't deserve it.. I didn't have her back that night...."  
  
I don't get to finish that sentence when I find myself standing in the same hotel room where it all happened.. I was standing in the same spot looking at the empty room, I still see it all play out.. how Cruz was yelling at her to give her the gun Noble stood in the corner as I watched Faith turn the gun around to place the butt in her hand and her finger slipped around the trigger.. I saw Cruz raise her gun to her and I saw myself train my gun on Noble who now I saw had his gun trained on Faith... he was going to kill her.. if I hadn't of shot him he would have killed her with a second bullet.. because his gun was aimed at her head.. I heard the three shots and then I saw everyone fall.. I heard myself cry out when I saw Faith's body being violently thrown backwards as the bullet ripped into her..  
  
"He was going to kill her Mo... now you see it.. so even though she got shot by Cruz you still saved her from the bullet that would have killed her for sure"  
  
I walk across the room and place my hands on Faith's head, letting my tears fall on to her hair and face, I had saved her but I had also hurt her... I couldn't live with that.. I remember wishing as hard as I could that night that I would be able to trade places with her.. that I would have taken the bullet instead of her.. feel a hand on my shoulder and I look up and see Faith standing there.. her face sympathetic to my pain.. waiting to fix it..  
  
"Bosco..."  
  
Her soft whisper has an angelic voice to it.. and then I see her beautiful wings unfold as she reaches for my hand..  
  
"I told you NOT YET!!! It isn't his time!! He still has to find what he's lookin for!"  
  
Mikey is by my side in an instant and I feel a strange sense of absolution as she touches my shoulder.. that feeling still stays with me as she spreads her wings further and with one clean sweep of her soft wings takes me in her arms.. I hear Mikey calling for me to come back but I am lost in Faith's embrace..  
  
"Please just let me see her.. I need to see her if you are going to take me with you.."  
  
She looks at me and smiles and in a white flash of light I am transported back to Mercy, I am standing in the lounge.. at one end of it sits Faith.. her head buried in her hands, her hands still clutching my tie... I walk over to her and sit beside her, I want to put my arms around her.. comfort her.. ease her pain.. put to rest the worries that she has about me..  
  
"I'm still here Faith.. I am not going anywhere.. I will always be here for you"  
  
I look back at the Angel and she beckons to me, holding her arms wide inviting me to come into her embrace.. but I cant go.. I have to stay here for Faith.. my heart is here with her.. I cant leave here until I know that she is going to be allright.. and then she crumbles into tears again... I cant stand to see her in such pain.. I have to ease it... The angel looks at me again and with one sweep of her wings she leaves the room.... She knows that I have to be here..  
  
Even though I pass though everything and everyone.. I still have to find someway of letting her know that I am here.. and then the thought comes to me.. I place both my hands on her tear stained face and kiss her soft mouth.. it feels real to me.. I hear her moan softly as I feel her shoulders shake and she dissolves into tears again..  
  
"Bosco you gotta hang on.. you cant leave me.... I cant live without you.."  
  
Her words root me to the spot as I kneel on the floor echoing in my ears, her plea gives me all the reason in the world not to leave this spot until I can find a way to come back here.. I have to fight.. I have to fight to stay here and come back to her.. I need her just as much as she needs me..  
  
"That was close.. I thought that she would have taken you for sure.."  
  
Mikey places a hand on my shoulder as I stand up, wiping my eyes, I don't get the chance to speak when I watch the door open and two Doctors walk in.. Faith snaps her head up when she hears the door and I stand by her side as I slide my arms around her shoulder.. her head tilts towards me.. I hope that she can sense that I am here for her..  
  
"Officer Yokas... Officer Boscorelli is out of surgery, the bullet entered just below his left scapula and pierced the Aortic arch and the left lung and exited from his body though the chest, we managed to repair the arch and patched the lung and re-inflated it as well as any residual damage but we lost him a couple of times on the table.. he is in critical condition right now on life support in the ICU, we are only letting family into see him for a short time."  
  
I feel her sob softly and explain to the doctor inbetween sobs, about my mother being in the same condition, Mikey bein murdered, and then something that makes my heart jump..  
  
"I am the closest thing to family that he has.."  
  
I watch as she gets up and follows the doctor to where I lay... we enter a room and I hear her gasp as she sees me.. hell I would have done the same thing.. she lets out a little sob and puts her hand over her mouth.. I am laying there in the bed with monitors everywhere.. a Vent breathin for me, my chest covered with Gauze and the smallest patch of red could be seen on one.. the body in the bed doesn't even look like me.. I look so small and pale..  
  
"She will stay here beside you until they tell her to go home.. you are not out of the woods Yet Mo.. I cant show you anything else that will help you out on your journey.. you have to do the rest on your own...but remember if you want to stay here.. you cant go with the Angel.."  
  
I look my Brother in the face.. as I see another angel standing beside him.. she is just as beautiful as my Angel Faith.. I look at my brother and he has a soft smile on his face as he looks at me..  
  
"Its my time Mo... I love you bro.. don't forget me.. and don't forget what I told you.. whatever you do don't go with the Angel.. it isn't your time yet... you still have to live... you still have a lot to do in life.. for me, my time came too soon but I will always be with you and Ma.. don't you ever forget that..."  
  
I pull Mikey into my embrace and hug him tight.. glad that I was finally given the chance to say goodbye to him..  
  
"Mikey you will always be my brother and best friend.. I am so sorry.. I am sorry for everything that I did to you... not protecting you when you needed me... I am sorry for everything..."  
  
"Mo it wasn't your fault... you were always there for me when we were kids.. you got me out of the house when mom and dad were fighting.. now its my turn to finally take one of those boats that we used to see when we were kids.. Paige will take me there.." he nodded at the Angel.. so that was her name.. I guess she had been a victim of the streets of NY...  
  
I hug my Brother closer as we say our goodbyes and I feel a sense of peace after I watch him walk towards Paige.. she pulls him into her embrace where he goes willingly she kisses him full on the mouth and I watch as a pair of wings forms on my brothers back.. taking her hand they fly off together....  
  
Wiping my eyes I turn back to the bed where Faith has pulled up a chair she carefully laced her hand into mine and running a hand though my hair her voice cracks with emotion as I hear her speak to me.. I stand behind her.. wanting nothing more than to wrap my arms around her in comfort and love..  
  
"You stay with me Bosco.. you hear me? You fight.. and you fight hard.. because I am not going anywhere.. I need you here with me...I cant loose you too.."  
  
My heart breaks as she collapses into a fit of sobbing.. letting her beautiful head fall on the bed as she lets the hum of the machines keeping me alive lull her to sleep..  
  
I look at her and realize that I have to fight as hard as I can to stay here.. that no matter how seductive that Angel can be.. I wont go with her again.. I have to stay here with Faith.. I need to be with her.. especially now that she's lost her husband and her kids.. I make up my mind that I will stay with her as long as I can.. as I lower myself on to the floor to sit and wait for her to wake. 


	3. Understanding and Comfort

Its been a week since the shooting..and Faith hasn't left my side for more then a second.. they tried to kick her out of the ICU but she found a way to get back in to sit and wait beside my bed.. eventually they just gave up.. in fact they offered her the use of the patient shower facilities on another floor so she could take care of herself.. they even brought in a cot so she could sleep next to me... I sat beside her talking to her.. I know that she cant hear me but I still had to let her know that I was there..  
  
"Bosco... Bosco come to me.. let yourself go Bosco..."  
  
I look over in the corner and I see the familiar form of the Angel as she beckons to me.. I am finding it harder to resist her call... her visits are becoming less and less frequent now.. but the pull to come towards her hasn't lessened.. I still fell the uncontrollable urge to slide into her arms and loose myself to the embrace.. but then I look over at Faith asleep by my bedside.. keeping constant vigil over me, and I find the urge to give up the fight dissipitate, I try talking to the Angel but she just beckons me more.. I gave up asking her why she was here.. and that I wasn't going to go and to tell the Gatekeeper that I wasn't ready to leave and that I would fight with every ounce of strength in my body..  
  
Two doctors come into the room and do their usual assessment of my condition, checking my wounds to see if they were healing properly, checking my medications to ensure I was getting the proper dosage of whatever I was getting.. they are careful to step over Faith who is slumbering softly by their feet in the little cot that they set up for her..  
  
"I think its time to take him off of life support.. he seems to have been improving over the last week.. I think we should try him off of life support, see how he does.."  
  
The other doctor nods and I watch the Angel in the corner smile, it isn't a smile of satisfaction but one of sympathy.. I don't know how to feel with her anymore.. she wont answer any of my questions.. I just deny her every time she comes to see me.. I have to stay with my real Faith..  
  
I watch in horror as they turn off the vent to see if I would breathe on my own.. I feel a strange pull in my chest as the machine takes its last breath for me and I am left to do it on my own.. I fight with everything I have to take a breath on my own.. I feel my chest rise and fall as I fight to keep breathing I look over at the Angel and she walks over to where I stand, still fighting to breathe on my own  
  
"You must make a choice Bosco... you must either choose to come with me and I will show you happiness beyond anything that you have ever experienced.. or you can choose to live the rest of your days.... What shall it be?"  
  
I am instantly filled with such joy and peace that I no longer no where I am.. the pain is gone.. the hurt and the guilt is no longer dragging behind me.. I feel totally elated.. this must be what heaven feels like.. but there is one thing missing.. Faith.. I know I have the Angel but she isn't Faith.. I am sure that if I go with her.. she will lead me here and then leave me.. The thought of living without Faith makes me feel empty inside, even though I feel like nothing can ever hurt me ever again.. I still wont have my Faith.. and that decision prompted my answer..  
  
"I cant go with you Angel.. as much as you tempt me with your magick I cant go with you.. I am needed here... I need to be here for Faith.. I need her.. I need to BE with her.. I just cant stand by and be happy with just watching her.. I don't care how much pain I will face I don't care what hardships I will encounter.. as long as I have her then I will have the strength to live.."  
  
The angel looks at me and nods her head..  
  
"You have justified your reason for staying.. and it is a noble one.. I shall let you live.. besides the gatekeeper and your Bother was right.. it isn't your time to go... to return back to the world all you need to do is return to your body and breathe on your own.. only then will you return to your Faith.... look she wakes.. go return to her Maurice.."  
  
I look at Faith and watch as her eyes flutter open.. slowly she sits up and then she looks at the doctors that are watching over me to make sure that taking me off life support wasn't a mistake.. she asks them what they are doing and then bursts into a new round of fresh tears and I hear her pray out loud to God, asking him to spare me.. to send me back to her because she needs me to stay.. she has so much she wants to tell me... I cant take it anymore.. I have to comfort her.. I look back at the Angel  
  
"How do I get back to my body Angel?"  
  
"Don't worry you will figure it out... just use your imagination.. you will get back to it soon..."  
  
"Angel.. one more thing.. what is your name? I know that you are not my Faith although you look like her but I need to know your name.. because I cant keep calling you the Angel of Death all the time.."  
  
She laughed at me... her voice musical and light.. filling me with elation as she places a hand on my shoulder..  
  
"Maurice.. I came to you as an Angel of Death and you refused me.. you chose to live.. so now I exist as your Guardian Angel.. you can call me whatever name you please as whatever you call me know this.. I will always be looking over your shoulder.."  
  
She pulls me into her embrace and I feel her wings fold protectively around me, and in a flash of white light she is gone...and I am left standing in the room facing Faith.. I cross the room in three strides and placing my hand on her shoulder I feel it pass though her but also I felt her pain.. I felt the pain and the loss.. and most of all I felt the fear that she had.. the fear that she would loose me before she had the chance to tell me what she wanted... Pulling my hand away I look at it and then I get what the Angel meant.. what she wanted me to do to come back to the living.. I now know what I have to do but for the moment I have to comfort my partner.. I don't know what I didn't think of this before..  
  
Grabbing her by the waist I wrap my arms around her and step forward, letting myself fill her body as I possessed her soul, it was the weirdest feeling that I have ever felt.. in here I could read her thoughts.. I could feel what she felt..  
  
"Oh God please don't take him from me.. I don't have a Family anymore... you already took that away from me when you allowed Fred to chase after that other woman.. please.. please don't take him too.. don't take my Bosco... give him the strength to breathe on his own..."  
  
Her thoughts stop as if she knows that I am with her.. I try and reach out with my mind.. if I can read her thoughts than maybe she can read mine.. I need to let her know that I am here for her.. that I will never leave her.. that I love her.. that I cheated death to be with her...  
  
"Faith... Faith I know you can hear me... Faith know this.. I have always been with you.. I will always be with you.." I touched her heart inside and using my hand I bought hers up to caress her cheek lovingly... "I love you Faith.. I will fight as hard as I possibly can to stay with you... as long as I have you I have strength to fight..."  
  
I step forward as I leave her body.. my mind rips back to its own thoughts as I look at the broken body laying on the bed.. I have to go back to it now.. I am going back because I want to be with Faith forever.. when I am able to I am going to tell her everything.. that I love her.. that I don't ever want to be apart form her.. that I need her to be with me always...  
  
Getting up on the bed I feel myself enter back into the body that I had vacated for a week.. instantly feeling the pressure of not being able to breathe.. and then taking control of what I know is happening, I force my lungs to work.. taking in a deep breath and pushing it out.. I hear my heart in my ears returning to its comfortable pace, slowly I open my eyes to look though them for the first time since the shooting.. around me I see the Doctors, watching, impressed with how well I am doing off of life support, and then I look to my left and there is Faith, tears of joy streaming down her face to see me awake...  
  
"Bosco.." she breathes out a sigh of relief as I find the strength to extend my hand to her.. I want to let her know that I am not going anywhere anytime soon...She reaches forward and puts her arms over me in an embrace of relief and of joy.. and in her arms I found the peace and tranquility that I have been forgiven of everything... that I have been absolved of my wrongdoings by the only person in the world that matters more to me than life itself.. she pulls away and looks me in the eye and I see the love and understanding that I have come to know with her.. she leans in and kisses my forehead and whispers in my ear...  
  
"I love you too Bos...."  
  
I woke up to find two Doctors standing over Bosco's bed and I watched them turn off the Life support system.. I felt fear nail my feet to the floor as they watched the numbers fade away from the screen.. so I did the only thing that I could do.. I watched and I prayed... I prayed for the man that I have loved for so long.. for the man that I would die for.. for the man who might still die because he tried to save me..  
  
For the past week it has been the same.. I wouldn't leave here for love nor money incase he woke up.. I slept in a cot beside his bed.. I used the shower upstairs.. when they kicked me out I just found a way to get back in and stay with him.. eventually they gave up, knowing that I would only come back and stay anyhow.. besides I wasn't harming anything.. and being near him.. listening to his wounded heart beating, echoed by the rhythmic beeping of the machines that kept him alive... it gave me a sense of comfort.. knowing that he was still fighting to stay here with me..  
  
I remember praying when I felt a strange sensation.. it felt like for a moment part of the pain the I had felt disappeared when a hand was placed on my shoulder.. I look around but there is nobody there.. and then I felt it.. it was the feeling you get after sinking into a warm bath, or being hugged when you really needed it.... It was the best feeling in the world.. I felt all the hurt and the emotional pain I had been in leave my body and then I heard his voice..  
  
"Faith... Faith I know you can hear me... Faith know this.. I have always been with you.. I will always be with you.."  
  
I felt my hand move up and touch my cheek in a gentle caress that Bosco always had given me when he knew I was feeling down.. and I knew that it was him talking to me.. it was him inside my head..  
  
"I love you Faith.. I will fight as hard as I possibly can to stay with you... as long as I have you I have strength to fight..."  
  
His words echo in my head as I feel the warm feeling leaves my body... for the first time since this nightmare began I knew that he was going to be allright I move to the side of the bed and watch him, I let out a sob of relief when I see his chest rise and fall on its own.. he was breathing on his own again... I thank God and any other Deity that might have been listening to my plea...  
  
"Bosco...." Hi name rolls off my tongue as the tears spill from my eyes and I lace my fingers in his hand and then with my other arm I lean forward and hug him.. its all I want to do.. I just want to hug him... I feel so relieved that he is back with me.. pulling back from the hug I look him in the eye and see that he is going to hold to the promise I heard echo in my head.. that he wasn't going to go anywhere.. so I lean over and kiss him on the forehead.. thankful to have him back and I utter the only words that I can find in my heart to say to him.. the three words that sum up every emotion that I have come to realize I had felt for years...  
  
"I love you too Bos..."  
  
I watch as the tear spills out from his eye and rolls down to the pillow and I wipe it away with my thumb as I pull the chair to the side of the bed happy to finally have him back with me. 


	4. Was it Real?

"Faith I love you Faith... I will fight as hard as I possibly can to stay with you... as long as I have you I have strength to fight..."  
  
His voice echoes in my head as my eyes snap open... looking around the room Bosco lays in front of me... heart monitor still beeping his heartbeat into the room... they took the breathing tube out yesterday so there was no tell tale "whoosh" that followed every other heartbeat.. I had become accustomed to the sound as I kept vigil by his side... I have not left him for a moment... I refused to... and yesterday... he woke up... only for a moment but I knew that he was going to stay with me...  
  
The only thing that I can't explain was the feeling that I had just before he opened his eyes... I have never felt like that before... it was like all the pain that I had been feeling in the past week was suddenly gone.. I can't describe it... but I knew as soon as I heard those words echoing in my head that it was Bosco... it was his voice and when my arm moved to caress my cheek... I know I didn't voluntarily do that... but it was Bosco's touch... I knew that he was going to be allright... I knew that he was going to hold true to his words, that he was going to fight... and I would hold true to the promise that I made... that I wasn't going to leave him, Fred took everything that mattered to me... and then he told me that there was a "someone"... Well now I have a "someone" too... but I have had this someone for a long time, I just kept denying what I felt for him, shoving the feelings back into the closet of denial where they would remain... at least until yesterday when I heard his voice inside my head... and the feelings that I had hidden in the back of that closet just came running back out at me.  
  
A small gasp catches my attention and I turn around to see who emitted it... I find myself looking at my daughter... Emily was standing at the door with one hand over her mouth and the other hand over her heart. I motion for her to come into the room, she is rooted to the spot at the door... unable to move... but then again I was in the same position when I first saw him myself... I somehow find my feet; I reach her and pull her into a hug... It feels so good to finally hug my own children... I had been so worried about them because I haven't had any messages from Fred since he told me about his "someone" and I hadn't heard from the kids either so I was worried as hell about them...  
  
"Mom..."  
  
I stoke her hair and try and soothe her by telling her that he is going to be fine, as she cries into my shoulder... I don't blame her... I was in the same predicament last week... only I didn't have anyone to comfort me aside from Davis and Sully... She pulls her head away from my shoulder and shakily holds my hand as she walks into the room to sit in the chair beside mine...  
  
"I went to the house to see you... Ty told me what happened to you and then what happened to Bosco... and he gave me a ride here... Mom he told me that Bosco saved your life..."  
  
I nod my head as I let my gaze drift back to the bed...  
  
"I've been so worried about you two... where does he have you living right now? Does your father know where you are right now?"  
  
She looks at me and I see the tear roll down her cheek and immediately I feel a surge of anger run though my veins directed at Fred for making her feel so torn...  
  
"We're living with her... she has a house over in the Bronx... I don't like it... it isn't my neighborhood... but Charlie and I have our own rooms... and there are two bathrooms... but I hate living with her... Dad wouldn't let us call you... I tried a couple of times but he confiscated my cell after the first time... Mom I miss you... I don't like what he did to us... we didn't even have a chance to object... he just gave us a couple of boxes and told us to pack because we were leaving... I packed as slow as I could... made it difficult for him... but then he came and told me that whatever I didn't pack would be left behind..."  
  
She looks at Bosco and then looks back at me... I can tell that she is going to want to know what the hell happened... so I take a deep breath and re-account the events of the past week, my voice catching a few times... I told her about the feeling I had before he woke up... As soon as I finished my story I watched as her eyes widened up and she looked at me in shock...  
  
"Wow... Mom... no wonder you look like you have been though hell... you actually heard his voice?"  
  
I nod my head and she hugs me as tears threaten to spill over my eyes as Bosco's words echo in my head...  
  
"Mom you know what this means right? They say when you hear someone talking to you like that... that they are your soulmate... you two are bound together by something more than friendship... he is as much a part of you as you are a part of him.."  
  
My thoughts are interrupted by a soft groan from the bed... I practically leap out of my chair and I am by Bosco's side in an instant... I feel his hand brush my palm as I lace my fingers with his... I feel Em looking over my shoulder as he opens his eyes for the first time since yesterday... I look him and I send all my love and strength along the gaze that we shared... I don't think that I could ever get tired of looking into his beautiful eyes... He breaks my gaze and looks around the room at the monitors and then at Em... his eyes grow wide in surprise as he tightens his grip on my hand... like he is truly happy to see her here because that way he knows that I am happy...  
  
"Faith..." He croaks out, barely able to talk... I pick up the cup of ice chunks I had been munching on and run one over his dry, cracked lips, watching as he sucked the melting water into his mouth... a small smile plays on his face as the last of the chunk dissolves on his mouth.  
  
"I'm here Bosco... and so is Em... she just came to see how you were doing..."  
  
"I know Faith.... I know everything... I saw everything.. Mikey... he showed it all to me..."  
  
I look at Em and she just shrugs her shoulders.. I make a mental note to myself to tell the doctors to change his pain medication because clearly he is hallucinating.. but part of my gut tells me that he does know everything... He looks up at me and squeezes my hand and I know that he is telling me the truth.. whatever happened to him in that week that he was fighting for his life.. it made him see how much I needed him. Emily's voice brings my thoughts back to the present.  
  
"Mom, I have to split.. Dad doesn't know where I am and he'll be having a kitten by now, but then again if he wanted to know where I was he shouldn't have confiscated my cell." She squeezes Bosco's leg under the blanket "See ya Bosco, I'll be coming back to check on you if I can."  
  
I pull her into my embrace, I don't know who was hugging who harder but I didn't want to let her go.. after almost 2 weeks of not seeing her I was in withdrawal... I am gonna find Fred as soon as I get out of here and if he doesn't let me see my kids then I'll charge him with child abduction... I threw his sorry ass in jail once I'll do it again!  
  
We said our goodbyes and I felt a tear stream down my cheek as I watched my daughter leave the room. I turn my attention back to Bosco, as a source of some kind of solitude, at least I still have him here with me..  
  
"What happened to me Faith?" He croaked out from the bed "I know I was shot.. I remember hearing them and I remember you screamin my name before I passed out..."  
  
Bosco goes on to tell me everything that he remembers after that.. my eyes widen in shock as he describes everything to me.. he is tellin me that he had some out of body experience while the doctors were trying to save him. I defiantly gotta tell the doctors to change his medication... until something he said caught my attention, my full attention..  
  
"Faith I saw you that night... you know the night you were shot... Noble was gonna kill you, I saw it all happening again., the gun that he pulled when is shot him was aimed at your head.. I wanted to stop Cruz from shooting you but I hit Noble instead... Faith please forgive me... I wanted to protect you so bad but I couldn't."  
  
A tear slips from his eye and rolls down into the pillow as I reach for some more ice chunks, he sighs as the ice melts over his lips and allows the water to soothe his parched throat. He still felt guilty about what happened that night... he still doesn't understand that I wanted to be there for him... after he told me about the punk that he was framing for murder.. no wait that the Bitch was framing for murder I couldn't say no to him.. the last words he said to me in that conversation made everything disappear.. the fact that he still needed me because I was the only one that he could turn to.. he loved me then and I just didn't see it.. I was too blind to see it.  
  
"Bosco, it was that bitch sergeant who shot me.. not you.. I wanted to be there for you because like you said I am the only one.. I'm your partner Bosco... I was there for you, I'll always be there for you..."  
  
My mind is suddenly gripped by that night we spent in the RMP, waiting for relief while we were watching over that van of stolen grave memorials.. it was just after I had left Caesar out in 26 turf... Bosco had said those exact words to me... and I knew that he meant them.. as I mean them now...I watched as a smile spread across his face and he knew that I forgave him for everything.. he knew that a long time ago but he just needed to hear me say it to him.  
  
"Bosco... I thought I lost you.. the Doctors said that you died a couple of times when they were operating.. Bosco you can't leave me now.. I need you here with me... they told me that the bullet punctured your lung and pierced your heart...and that you are lucky to be here.."  
  
"I know... I saw the angel of death..."  
  
I sit by his side and listen to how he watched the doctors working on his body in the ER and how Mikey came to guide him though what he referred to being in a place called limbo... that as long as his body still lived he would still be stuck in this realm.. he told me he saw my apartment and that Mikey told him that Fred had left me.. and then he told me about the other places that he had been.. I am finding it hard to believe all of this.. how the hell could he have known that Fred left me... did he know that he had cheated on me too? I was seriously doubting his tale when he told me that he had been trying to talk to me.. that he had never left my side while I was here keeping a watchful vigil over his broken body..  
  
"Faith I kept talking to you.. telling you that I would hold on just to be with you... but I couldn't touch you.. everything that I touched I passed right though it.. but every chance I got I was telling you that I wasn't going to leave you... that I was gonna fight to stay with you.. I had to Faith.... I had to stay for you... there is so much I want to say to you..."  
  
His voice trailed off as his throat became dry... exhausted from telling me everything I shushed him softly and fed him some more ice to soothe his dry throat.. His words echoing in my mind drive away all doubt of him telling me something that he thinks might have happened.. I know it did because when I was in my deepest moments of despair I heard him talking to me.. I know it was him because even in a dark and crowded room I could never mistake his voice.  
  
"Bosco... I am going to ask you something and I just want you to nod your head yes or no if this is what happened.. I just need to know because after what you just told me, I am thinking that this really happened."  
  
I go on and describe the feeling that I had just before he woke up for the first time since the shooting.. the warmth of his embrace and the words that echoed though my mind, I had to know if it was him and not just my imagination. I finish my recollection of what happened to me and I find that I am holding my breath for his reply, Slowly he nods his head, confirming what I just said... so it was him... it was his voice that I head in my head, telling me he loved me...  
  
"Bosco how..."  
  
"I stepped inside your body Faith.. I put my arms around you and stepped into your body, I felt the pain, I felt the despair, I felt everything that you felt at that moment.. I also heard your prayers.. and that is when I defiantly knew that Fred had left you.. Faith it isn't fair to you..."  
  
His voice trailed off again and I saw the tear escape his eyes.. and then I realized there were two tears that splashed on to the bed linens.. reaching up to my face I realized that they were mine.. I didn't even realize that I had been crying.. even when Bosco lay in front of me.. his body broken and recovering , after staring death in the face and coming back here to tell me about it.. he was still concerned for my wellbeing... I never felt more touched.  
  
"Faith.. did you mean what you said to me yesterday... that you loved me?"  
  
His question caught me off guard as I wiped my eyes and took his hand, with my other free hand I caressed his face softly, he closed his eyes at my touch relishing in my soft caress.  
  
"Bosco you know that.."  
  
I didn't even get to finish that thought when the Doctor came into the room interrupting my confession. I seriously have to remind myself that this was the Doctor that had saved his life.. or I would have shot him for coming in at this time.. he looked Bosco over from head to toe, inspecting his wounds, making sure that they were healing properly and then asking him a bunch of questions about how he was feeling today, if he had any pain anywhere that the medication wasn't helping... Doctor stuff... I sat quietly in the chair beside the bed when he noticed that I was there..  
  
"You are one lucky individual Officer Boscorelli.. to have a woman like this.. she wouldn't leave your side for a moment.. we had to drag her out kicking and screaming sometimes just so she could take care of herself. She is one special lady."  
  
Bosco enthusiastically nods his head in agreement and I felt his hand searching for mine.. I laced my fingers with his and smiled, the Doctor made some notes on his chart and left the room, leaving a silence between us...  
  
"Bosco I meant every word I said in the past week.. I can't live without you, I cried myself to sleep every night this week at the thought of living life without you... you were right the kids and Fred are gone.. and there is something else that you don't know... last week before your brother's wake I went to a diner to meet with Fred...I wanted him to come home with the kids.. I tried to tell him that I would work out whatever was wrong with our relationship.."  
  
My voice caught in my throat as the image of my soon to be ex-husband came into my mind as we sat in the diner and I poured my heart out to him.. telling him that we were a team and that we had been together forever and that I loved being who I was and I loved it more when I was with him and the kids.. that I would spend more time with him.. giving him everything that he wanted to hear.. and then he told me about that "someone" the pain that I felt at that instant was almost as bad as the pain I had felt when Bosco had crossed over with that Bitch sergeant...  
  
"Faith go on..."  
  
Bosco's voice reminds me of why I need to tell someone this.. I had been betrayed by the man that I had sworn to love honor and cherish for my whole life.. the man that I chose to have kids with..  
  
"Fred said that he wasn't comin home... Bosco he told me that he met someone else.. that he was having an affair.. and then he got up and walked out of the diner and out of my life.. he wont let the kids come and see me.. Em had to sneak out to see me today... he wont let me talk to them... Oh Bosco!"  
  
My voice cracks and my head falls down to the bed where I break out into a new fit of sobs.. not for Bosco but for the family that I lost... the husband that betrayed me and the feeling of helplessness that I was feeling at that exact moment... I felt Bosco's hands gently run though my hair as he tries to comfort me....  
  
"Faith remember why you became a cop...you wanted to leave Fred in the first place.. his drunk ways.. the way that he abused what you had given him.. Faith I wish I had found you first.. I would have given you what you deserve.. a happy relationship... Faith I love you..."  
  
My shoulders slowly stop shaking as I reach for his hand and grasp it tight as I lift my head from the pillow... this man never ceases to amaze me... I shift myself from the chair to the side of the bed and placing one hand on the one side of Bosco, being careful to avoid the bandages and wires I place my other hand on the side of his face. I watch as he closes his eyes and I feel his cheek nuzzle into my palm, leaning into his face I brush my lips softly over his and I felt his breath catch and in the distance I heard the heart monitor speed up its beeping slightly as his heart reacted to the brush of my lips over his, his eyes snap open to look into mine and then they close as he moans softly... a weak hand reaches up from the bed and runs though my hair as he pulls my head down for another kiss, which I willingly give him, allowing myself to fall deeper into a state of temporal bliss.. Pulling back from his lips I felt the breath that we had both held slowly exhale as I rest my forehead against his..  
  
"Bosco I meant everything I said....especially the part where I said that I loved you... you are my partner and I couldn't live without you.. so you gotta get better if not for yourself then for me..."  
  
I kissed him again and pulled away just as Mary came into the room to check on Bosco.. she had been coming up to see how he was doing now and again when she had time on her break.. He had us all worried about him... the best news that she had was when I ran downstairs yesterday to tell her that he woke up... even if it was only for a brief moment.. I got up off the bed and squeezed Bosco's hand as I talked to Mary.. and then I excused myself from the room.. I had a payphone to find and some calls to make.. I had to find out where my husband and my kids were.. and then I had to get them back... Bosco's kiss gave me the strength to make the calls.. even though he is still in bed, recovering, mending his broken body I know that he is right beside me...  
  
I finally find a payphone at the end of the ward and with a steady hand I pick up the receiver and drop in the quarter to make the first of my calls... the calls that will bring my kids home to me. 


	5. Calling down the Thunder

I feel the breath leave my body in a weary sigh as I replace the receiver of the phone back to its cradle... I just got off the phone with one of the detectives in our precinct.. a couple of them owe me a favor for helping them out with solving the Rebecca case... I smile to myself as I still see the face of that poor woman when we told her that her daughter was alive and well.. and then the sob of relief and happiness that she cried on my shoulder when she saw her for the first time since she was stolen from her...  
  
Thinking of Rebecca only made my longing for my children worse and re- kindled the fire that made me drop another quarter into the phone and dial Em's cell number.. she said that Fred had taken it away from her when she had tried to call me.. there was still a good chance that he had it and because I was calling from a payphone the number wouldn't appear on the call display.. I felt the fire running though my veins as I heard the phone ring once... and then again.., on the third ring I heard his voice on the other end..  
  
"Hello?"  
  
I take a deep breath trying to control the feeling of fury at my soon to be ex-husband for trying to take my kids away from me.. he knows better than anyone that I would die for them.. there are only three people that I would die for.. Emily and Charlie and of course Bosco...  
  
"Fred... don't you even think of ending this call before you hear what I have to say.. I know everything Fred including where you are living right now.. and I am going to give you one chance to save yourself a lot of grief..."  
  
"Faith don't you tell me what I can and cannot do.. you were the one who turned her back on us... that is why I left you"  
  
I felt the heat grow stronger as I fought to control my voice level.. the last thing I wanted to be doing was be screaming into a payphone in the middle of Mercy..  
  
"Fred you know that I never turned my back on you.. you are just using that as an excuse to go to that slut that you are living with now and you know it.. now listen because I am going to only say this once.. and if you even dare to hang up on me before I am done.. you are calling down a thunder that you don't want to deal with Fred believe me.. I will not hesitate to bring everything that I have behind me into this... if I do that then it is going to get ugly"  
  
I hear his voice raise on the other end at my words and I know that I have his attention now.. he knows better than to cross me especially when he's hurt me so deeply..  
  
"She is not a slut.. she is trying to be a mother to the children that YOU abandoned.. trying to piece together a family that YOU turned your back on... oh by the way Faith how's your precious partner Bosco? Is he dead yet?"  
  
He spat his name in to the phone and I heard the jealousy dripping from his voice... I felt a sense of vindication when I heard that from my supposedly loving husband... I knew that I had turned the dagger in him too and I smiled at the pain in his voice..  
  
"Now are you going to listen to what I have to say or are you going to call down the thunder Fred? Think carefully on this because you know better than to do what you are doing right now."  
  
"Fine, Talk but make it fast Colleen is making dinner"  
  
So that's her name.. that should make it a little easier to find Fred... I had given the detectives Em's cell phone number and they said that they would put a trace on it.. if I kept him talking long enough they might be able to get a general location on where he might be with my kids.. I already told them that they were somewhere in the Bronx I just didn't know where.. this conversation might be the only way of locating my kids and bringing them home with me..  
  
"Fred you know that what you did is wrong.. taking the kids like that in the middle of my shift... without a word on where you were going and how I can get to see them.. and then on top of things forbidding them to call me or get in touch with me.. I wouldn't even have known that you had taken Em's cell phone if she hadn't told me herself.. Oh yes Fred she came to see me because she doesn't like what you have done and she misses me.. and if you do anything to punish her for coming to see me I swear to your old friend Jesus that I will get you for anything that you do to her... for trying to see her Mother.. now here is what is going to happen.. you are going to tell me where you are and you are also going to let me see my kids.. and then you are going to get a good lawyer because I am going to take you right to court for full custody of Emily and Charlie... now if you do not let me see my kids then I will hunt you down like the slime dog you are and arrest you for kidnapping my kids and I will personally shut the door with a smile on my face.... Now I am going to give you one hour Fred... one hour to let you think it over.. and that is only because I am in a good mood.. if I do not hear from you within an hour you had better be prepared to face the music... and I mean it Fred.. nobody takes my kids away from me without facing the consequences.. you got that Fred NOBODY!! You have one hour!"  
  
I replace the receiver and I sink into the chair beside me.. I did it.. I threatened my husband.. I never thought that I would hear myself do that.. but then again desperate times called for desperate measures so he really brought it on himself, he should have known the consequences of messing with me when it came to my children.. I think that I might have been able to get over the fact that he cheated on me.. but because he took my kids too that was the call to war.. and now that Bosco was awake and I had started sorting out my feelings for him I turned my attention to getting my kids back. Taking a deep breath I try and find the strength to make my legs work.  
  
I open my eyes in time to see Faith walk back into the room, I can tell that she is flustered about something I don't know what it is but I have a feeling that it has something to do with Emily being here earlier.. she had told me about Fred leaving her, well I already knew that from seeing the apartment but I didn't know that he had cheated on her, and I think that is the driving force that I have to get better now.. I have to be there for her not only for support but also to give Fred what for if he ever comes near her again, I'll kill him if he ever comes near her again, I smile to myself as I make a promise to kick his sorry ass the next time I see him.. well the next time I see him and I can get out of this bed.  
  
"Faith what's wrong? Where were you?"  
  
"Fighting to get my kids back.. I threatened him Bosco.. I called him up and threatened to track him down and arrest him for kidnapping if he didn't return my kids to me within an hour... well at least let me see them.. I cant handle Emily sneaking around so she can see her Mother.. she told me that Charlie would have come with her but he is too scared to risk his fathers anger for sneaking around...if he touches one hair on their heads I swear I'm gonna..."  
  
Her voice trails off and I see that angry look that I have seen so many times before.. it's the "mess with me and die" look and I know that she means it.. and even though I still cant move from this bed I would stand by her as best I could until I can kick his sorry ass for doing it to her..  
  
"I told him that he had an hour to get back to me.. he knows my cell number.. at least he should its in Em's phone.."  
  
I watch as she sinks into the chair beside me and I reach out to her with my free hand spreading my fingers to give her the chance to lace hers through mine, which she does eagerly, I lock my eyes into hers and I see the uncertainty of what is yet to come in her eyes.. I hate that look, she always looks like she is going to cry when she has that look on her face.. and after what I have put her though she has done enough crying to last a lifetime.  
  
"Faith, don't worry even though he is a complete bull-headed idiot at times he isn't completely stupid, he knows that you will hold true to what you said and he will think..."  
  
My sentence is interrupted by the ringing of her phone.. I watch as she jumps out of her chair and leaps to answer it, looking at the call display she gets an odd look over her face and then she answers it, after a brief conversation she affirms everything and then thanks the other person on the phone and hangs up, she answers me before I get the chance to ask the question.  
  
"That was Kendal, one of the detectives that I talked to.. you know we went to his engagement party a couple of years ago.. you were hitting on one of the bridesmaids there.. remember?"  
  
I nod my head.. hey she was hot.. but not as good lookin as my Faith... my mind flashes to the kiss that we shared moments before Mary interrupted us... I could have kept kissing her all day if I could... I don't think that I have ever felt that kind of sensation from just kissing someone.. its true what they say.. you really do see fireworks...  
  
"Well I had asked him to trace Em's cell number when I called it just now to talk to Fred, He just called me back to say that he located where the signal was coming from.. they found out where he is living.. its in the South Bronx, it isn't on our turf but if push comes to shove he said that he can pull some strings and I can be there if we have to arrest him and get my kids back by force.. now we just have to wait it out to see if he takes my threat seriously.."  
  
I want to be there when they get Fred but unfortunately that's not going to happen.. at least not now... My spirit is willing but unfortunately my body has other things to say... I feel guilty for lying here even if it isn't of my own volition I want to be there when they bring him in... but that isn't going to happen so all I can do is try and be there as much as I can for her, let Faith know that I am there for when she thinks that there is nobody else there.  
  
"Faith I wish I could be there, I want to be with you when you get your kids back.. I meant what I said earlier Faith.. I wish I could have found you first before he did.. I wanted to be the one to have given you the life that you deserve."  
  
Her kiss is still reeling in my mind as I pull on her hand... Damnit! I hate being so damn weak, I am sure that it didn't feel like what I wanted it to feel like but Faith gets the point, she gets up out of her chair and sits beside me on the bed I smile at her and I see a tear slip out of her eye... I feel for her, I know that this is the last thing that she ever wanted to do, all that she wanted to have was a happy marriage but instead she got one that was full of turbulence, alcohol abuse and problems from start to well... finish.. I reach up and brush away the tear with the tip of my finger and press my palm into her cheek, the soft flesh feels exquisite underneath my hand as I close my eyes and wish to end her pain.. I hate seeing her like this.  
  
"Bosco, do you think that I am doing the right thing? I mean it seems so wrong.. threatening my husband, I want to see my kids, and he wont let me... there has to be a better way of doing all this... Bosco...what am I doing?"  
  
I take a deep breath as she sighs, my heart goes out to her.. it isn't fair that she is reduced to doing this... arresting her soon to be ex-husband just to see her kids... it isn't fair even though she works at odd hours of the day she still tries to make it to everything that the kids are involved with.. she was heartbroken when she didn't make it to Em's gymnastics meet a few years back, we made it to most of Charlie's soccer matches and even a few baseball games.. she has done so much for her kids and not to mention she is the one that is keeping the roof over their heads and food on the table..  
  
"Faith, what Fred is doing to you is wrong.. he shouldn't be keeping your kids from you, especially since he up and left you in the middle of your shift, Faith that was sneaky and low, even for him.. what you are doing is the right thing... if he wants to be sneaky and bull-headed then let him, doing this is showing him that you are not going to stand for it, at least the Faith I know and love would never stand for this shit."  
  
I watch as a smile plays on the corner of her mouth, I know that my words made a difference because now she is nodding her head.  
  
"You're right Bosco, there is no way that I should stand for the bull that he is putting me though and packing up like that and leaving me in the middle of my shift that isn't fair.. not to mention that I was worried sick about both him and the kids.. I had to wait until HE called me to arrange that meeting.. and then to drop a bomb like that.. that he had been cheating on me.. no wonder he didn't want to touch me..."  
  
Her voice trailed off and she went red in the face.. during our time together we shared a lot, I mean she wouldn't hold much back when it came to her sex life with Fred.. mostly because she liked the look that I got across my face when she told me about the escapades in the Yokas boudoir... and lots of other things that I didn't need to hear.. but this... her telling me that Fred had turned away from her nearly tore my heart out.  
  
I pull Faith closer to me and caressing her face with my hand I bring her head closer to mine... I moan softly as her lips caress over mine, sending electric shivers though my body, leaving me breathless, She pulls her head away and I seem to have trouble catching my breath, it feels like I am breathing though a straw, its getting harder to breathe... I feel the fear rising in my throat, Faith must have sensed that something was wrong because she pulled away from me and was looking down at me in concern, I hear the beeping of the heart monitor increase as my heart races in fear.  
  
"Bosco.. Bosco what's wrong? Bosco!"  
  
Her voice rises as fear rises in her eyes.. She leaves my beside to run into the corridor,  
  
"SOMEONE HELP ME!! HE CAN'T BREATHE!"  
  
I hear footsteps running down the hall as Faith returns to my side, taking my hand and telling me that help is on the way.. its getting harder to breathe and the fact that I have a hole in one of my lungs isn't making it easier. In seconds Doctors are by my side as I feel the curtain descends over my eyes and the world goes fuzzy, as Faith's screams echo in my ears. 


	6. Faith's Promise

I can only sit helplessly as I watch the doctors work on Bosco... they put a tube down his throat to help him start breathing... among the jumble of medical mumbo jumbo coming out of them I hear that they thing that it might be some sort of blood clot that formed in his legs and traveled to his lungs... oh god! That would explain why he couldn't breathe...  
  
I don't think that I can take much more of this.. I have to get away.. turning to the door I run out of the room, though the hospital and for some reason I ran for the stairs and just started climbing them... I had to get higher, it seemed like the higher I got the closer I felt to that angel Bosco was talking about, if he was right about him telling me that she was his guardian angel maybe she would hear my desperate plea to her... I ran though the door that brought me to the roof and I make it to the edge where I have stood so many times before when I needed some air while I was waiting for perps to be seen in the always overcrowded ER. I fall down to my knees and let my head fall into my hands as my shoulders shake with sobs, forcing my head to tilt to the sky I feel the warmth of the sun on my face as I call out in to the mid-day sky.  
  
"Please... please if you are out there.. I know that you can hear me... I know that you were with him before... you helped guide him back to me... Please I beg you don't lead him away from me.. please...."  
  
My voice cracks as I curl into a little ball on the roof deck and sob silently into my hands... this cant be happening again.. especially when I needed him most.. when we just started to reveal to each other how much we truly meant to each other... he was getting better... I thought about Bosco.. all the times that we shared in the RMP together, the conversations that we shared.. how he listened to me while I confessed my problems to him, my fears about being pregnant again and then for some reason my mind flashed to that rapist and I felt a fresh tear roll down my cheek as I remember Bosco helping me with my jacket, the gentle touch of his hand as he pulled the sleeve around so I could get my arm into it... and then I remember him telling me about how he was worried that he would turn out like his father, thinking that the violence was somehow genetic and he was terrified that he would end up like him, that he was scared of a real relationship he was always scared that he would turn out like his father.  
  
A hand on my shoulder made me open my eyes and look up, standing in front of me was the doctor that was working on Bosco.. he looked down at me with sympathy, I don't think that I would take the pain of loosing my best friend and partner.  
  
Well here I am again.. looking at my body and watching the doctors work to save me again.. they say I had some kind of blood clot that traveled to my lungs and that is why I couldn't breathe.. they put a tube down my throat again to help me breath but I watched the numbers on the monitor fall.. they pumped me full of something that they called Heparin what ever the hell that was... I don't know where Faith went... she ran out of the room when the Doctors came in and I have a feeling I know where she is but more concerning to me is the fact that there is someone else in the room with me. Her wings folded over her graceful shoulders, she looks at me with intrigue..  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
She looks at me like her being here is the most natural thing in the world.. and then she smiles and stands up, her wings moving behind her in a soft rustle.  
  
"Maurice..." my name spills out of her mouth sounding like the sigh of the only woman I have ever loved.. hell she looks like Faith but her voice sounds sweeter.. if that was possible.... "The Gatekeeper has a message for you... he said its time.. and he sent me to get you... I am once again the Angel of Death"  
  
No she cant be... I wont let her take me... not when I just found out that the only woman that I truly loved, loved me back... I wont go.. I back away and run out the door as she advances towards me, her arms outstretched wings unfurled around her, she truly looks magnificent but I wont go with her... I wont let her take me.. the last time she took me it was Faith that brought me back.. it was Faith who pushed her away (well so to speak)... I know where she is.. she always goes up to the roof when she needs to clear her head when we are waiting for a perp to be released.. running for the door I hear her call after me...  
  
"You cant hide Maurice..why deny the inevitable?"  
  
I learned from previous experience that trying to open doors was a futile endeavor and that passing right through them was so much easier.. although it still gave me the creeps. Reaching the roof I look around and there is Faith standing by the ledge her head in her hands as she sobs into them, and then I hear her plea to the Angel who wanted to take me.. asking her to lead me back to her.. if she only knew that wasn't her intention at all. I looked up at the sky and screamed at it as loud as I could...  
  
"I AM NOT GOING!! YOU HEAR ME? I WONT GO!! I WILL FIGHT IF I HAVE TO BUT YOU CANT HAVE ME!"  
  
Walking over to where Faith has now collapsed into a little ball onto the Helipad sobbing softly as she clutches something in her hand, getting closer I see that she still has my tie.. like some child with a safety blanket she clutches it to her like a child would to their "bubby" when they were scared or hurt.. reaching into her pocket she pulls out something else, my heart jumps when I see its my shield... the name "Boscorelli" clearly inscribed into the metal as she runs her fingers over it.. she must have got it from my suit jacket when they first started working on me. But what amazes me is that she held onto it for so long. Sitting down beside her I begin my protest against the Angel.. if it is going to be a battle of wills she had better be prepared to face the bulldog... the bulldog who's name happens to be Maurice Boscorelli  
  
"Faith" I had been there so long now he was calling me by my first name...  
  
"Officer Boscorelli... Bosco... he developed what we call a DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis, because he has been inactive it is a blood clot that forms in the legs and can travel to vital organs, in Bosco's case it went to his lungs and caused a PE or a Pulmonary Embolism and because of his injured lung we had to re-intubate him and put him back on a Vent.. but for someone who has been though so much he is still hanging on with a fierce will to live... he wont give in. you can go back and see him now. We started him on a blood thinner called Heparin that will help dissolve the blood clot but for the moment unfortunately he is back in critical condition. I'm sorry Faith but now its just a waiting game."  
  
I watched as he walked back to the stairwell... at least he was still fighting.. I knew that he would.. Bosco isn't someone who gives up easily on anything.. I should know I have been butting heads with him for close to 13 years.. I am just about to get up when I give one final look to the sky.. returning my gaze to the door I see a woman standing next to it.. she looks exactly like me... but with one difference.. there are a pair of white feathered wings that extend from her shoulders down to her feet, they arch up against the contrast of the dark paint on the door, I shake my head and take another look, she is gone.. good lord I'm delusional.... But in the back of my mind something is telling me that I wasn't seeing things.. that there really was an angel standing there...  
  
"Please... PLEASE don't take him from me.. you hear me? I wont let you... I don't know how I am going to do it.. but I will fight you with everything I have to keep him here with me.."  
  
With that said I march to the door and fling it open lightly feeling the hand on my shoulder as I head towards the stairs. 


	7. Fear and Promotion

And so now I wait..I wait for the drugs to kick in and my Bosco to return back to me, the doctors are in and out of the room as usual but now there are lab technicians coming ever 6 hours on the nose to take vial after vial of blood from Bosco, they tell me that its to check the clotting factor in his blood.. whatever the hell that is, but soon after they take it Janice, Bosco's nurse comes into the room with another dose of that Heparin stuff they have been pumping into Bosco to help dissolve the clot that threatens his life.

I sit back and listen to the tell tale "Whoosh" as the ventilator hisses its confirmation that Bosco is still alive, its been two days now since Bosco left me waiting here.. Fred got wise to what I was planning and when I went with the crew to arrest him and get my kids back, we found an empty house, literally and a note on the back of the door..

"I know what you are doing Faith and its not going to work.. I am not going to allow you to neglect the kids the way you neglected everything else in your life...we are moving far away from New York, so you can forget about seeing the kids again, I'll get them to send you a card for Christmas. Fred"

I tore the note off the door and shredded it into a million pieces and then cried myself to sleep at the hospital that night, since that misadventure I have not left Bosco's side since. I keep talking to Bosco in the bed, telling him about Fred, about how worried I am about the kids, and how much I miss it when he is away like this, but I know that he isn't too far because sometime I feel a slight brush against my cheek and I know that its him... Closing my eyes in exhaustion I put my head down by his hand and drift to sleep.

55

"Faith, Faith wake up"

Sully's voice pulls me out of my dreamless sleep, opening my eyes and looking around the room I am greeted by the familiar sight of Bosco lying in the bed and the familiar "Whoosh" that lets me know that he is still fighting, pulling my head off the bed I see Sully standing at the door, beside him is Davis, Bosco has been in a coma for almost a month now... its been two weeks since he had the clot in his lungs, Rose still stops by faithfully everyday to check on her "little Maurice" and there are still some of the faithful from the Third watch who stop by to see if there is anything that they could do for me, how Bosco was doing, if there was any changes in his condition... I am starting to feel bad because I have nothing new to tell them... I too can just sit here and wait.

"Faith, the Boss wants to see you back at the house, he sent Davis and I to come and get you."

Its probably something to do with work.. or more like me returning to work.. but I cant get into David without Bosco.. I just cant.. it wouldn't be David without Bosco, especially now, especially since we had reconciled our differences and revealed our true feelings for each other, I couldn't do that to him it would feel like I am committing a kind of infidelity.

Silently I get up from my chair and stretch the sleep from my body, leaning over the bed I kiss Bosco's cheek and I grab his hand and give it a little squeeze.

"I have to go to the house, the boss wants me, you keep fightin' you gotta stay with me Bosco, I will be back as soon as I can, I love you"

Leaning over and kissing him again I turn towards Sully and Davis, I might as well get this over with while I can, I feel a strange sense of warmth on my shoulder that moves across my cheek and then I feel a slight caress in the small of my back, the spot where Bosco always touched me and I heard in the back of my mind the voice.. the voice that I heard in my head for the last two weeks say silently in my mind

"I love you too Faith."

And I sighed, knowing that he was still with me fighting.

55

I watch as Faith stood up, leaned over the bed and kissed the still form that is my body, my body that decided to betray me, just as I was making headway with Faith, crossing the room I put my hand on her shoulder, shuddering a little as bridged the gap between her mind and mine, every time I touched her my mind touched hers and I was able to hear her thoughts.. so I know that she didn't want to go into the house because she was afraid that she would be reassigned in David, and I knew why she didn't want to be reassigned too, she didn't want to leave me, she didn't want to leave the comfort of what has become a partnership that I am sure will never be broken. I knew this because I felt it too

I watched as she leaned over the bed and I heard what she whispered in my ear, I felt the warmth from her voice fill me with a feeling that I can only describe as Faith.. there was no way of describing this feeling, but it was good, she is the only thing that keeps me anchored, touching her shoulder took quite a bit out of me but it was worth it, especially since I got to touch the small of her back, I told her I loved her too... so she would know that I was fighting to stay with her, I was just going to try and get back into my body when I heard another familiar voice behind me.

"Maurice, are you ready to come with me yet?"

Turning around I come face to face with the Angel, her seductive voice turning my legs to jello, her visits are becoming less frequent but then again its getting harder to get her to leave.

"Tell the Gatekeeper I am not coming, not until this hair turns grey and they have to wheel me around in a diaper."

"Bosco, I don't understand why you don't want to come with me, I can show you things that you have only dreamed of, show your pleasures that you have never experienced, I can show you bliss where you get anything your heart desires.. you just have to come with me.. I can give it all to you but you have to trust me and take my hand."

"There is nothing that you can give me that I don't have already, I have Faith, I love her, and now I know that she loves me back, any pleasure that I have yet to experience I can experience with her, anything that I desire she can fulfill, I already have bliss, her name is Faith Yokas."

I looked the Angel in the eye and then looked at my body, smiling at the thought of Faith I touch my hand and sigh as it passes right though it, I have been trying to get back into my body for a couple of weeks now, since I figured out the way to do it before I have been trying that method over and over again, now all I do is pass though my lifeless form, so I have been trying to work out a way of getting back to Faith. The Angel turns to me and advances, her arms apart, waiting to take me into them, waiting to tell the Gatekeeper that she had won and that I was coming "home" well I had news for her.. the only "home" that I wanted to be in was wherever Faith was.. and I wasn't going to give up on that. Turning to the wall I jumped though it, traveling to the only other "home" I knew about.

55

"You wanted to see me Boss?"

I poke my head around the door frame to where Swersky was sitting and watched as he beckoned me into the room. Realizing that I the room that I was entering was the Roll room I feel a twinge of sadness on my heart as I look to the space where Bosco always sat, just two seats behind me so he could "keep an eye on me" during roll, willing the tears that were forming in my eyes not to roll down my cheeks.

"Have a seat Faith."

I head towards my usual chair and then realize that I am not in roll and I don't need to sit near the back of the room so I move closer to the front... I purposely take Bosco's seat and I feel a strange warmth roll though me.. like a comfort as I lean back in his chair, and I know that he is close by. Looking over to Swersky I fold my hands in my lap and assume the position for the bad news that is going to be delivered to me.. and what poor rookie I am going to be subjected to training for the next god knows how long..

"Faith, you know what happened on the rooftop"

I had been trying to forget it, memories flash back in my mind of me shooting Mann with Bosco's gun and then Cruz dropping that knife in the water...

"Well downtown started looking more closely at your record of service, they looked at Rebecca."

I grimaced as I saw that poor little girl who between Sasha, Bosco and I figured out that she had been abducted and was being abused by her slimeball father.. and then I had to smile at seeing her wake up for the first time and then the look on her real mothers face as we showed her the picture that we had of her and her recognizing that this was indeed her long lost daughter.

"Downtown is impressed with your skills, your determination and your resourcefulness."

I look up at Swersky skeptically, why is he talking to me about what downtown thinks of me.. why the hell are they looking at my jacket so closely anyhow?

"What are you saying Boss?"

Swersky grinned at me and patted me on the shoulder and he deposited a gold shield in my hand.

"I am saying you have been promoted... Detective Yokas.. Congratulations."

In the back of my mind I heard a voice say in my ear

"I knew you could do it Faith... you are going to be a great detective.."

I just sat there with that dumbfounded look on my face as I stare at the gold in my hand.. and I feel a twinge of guilt run though me, this should have been Bosco's as well, he helped me with the Rebecca case, he has helped me with everything and if he doesn't get promoted along with me then I don't want this.. I don't wanna leave David.. when Bosco gets out of the hospital I am going to be there right beside him and things will go back to normal again.. well as close to normal as possible given the fact that I am in love with my partner.

"Thanks Boss.."

Its all that I can choke out as I slowly rise from my seat.. realizing that along with this gold shield brings with it the perks of leaving the uniform at home, and wearing normal clothes for a change, and better, more regular hours.. this should make my custody hearing with Fred go much better.. That is if I can find Fred. I decided that would be my first case, but right now I had to get back to the hospital, I had to get back to Bosco.

"Can I go now boss? I don't want to be rude but I want to get back to the hospital."

Swersky nods at me and then adds that I have to return to work sometime.. I have burned all my vacation days and I cant keep away from work much longer.. at least if I want to still keep living where I am.. I have to make rent somehow. Leaving the house I have the feeling that someone is watching me and I know its Bosco.. I know that he is somehow following me, following me to keep his link to this world.

55

The Angel doesn't dare to follow me when I go after Faith, she knows better by now. Heading towards the house I get there just in time to see Faith sit in my chair, standing behind her I wrap my arms around her to let her know I am here for her.

"I love you"

I know she might not be able to hear me but I had to try.. I think she did because I feel her relax, letting her body sink into the chair.

The news that Swersky broke to her surprised me as well as Faith, I felt the surge of surprise that flowed though her veins.. in a way I was living vicariously though her. Leaning in, I bridge her thoughts.. I knew how to communicate with her but it always took it out of me..

"I knew you could do it Faith... you are going to be a great detective.."

Pulling away from her I know she heard me but all she can do is stare at the gold in her hand. Getting up I hear her tell the boss that she has to get back to me.. and then Swersky told her to report back for duty on Monday, that gave me the weekend to try and figure out how the hell to get back into my body and back to her.

Turning with Faith I take her hand, as best I can, as she walks out the door a gold shield clutched in her hand.


	8. A little Help from my Friend

Monday came too early.. I didn't want to go back. I knew that Bosco would be watching over me, once and a while when I was keeping vigil by his beside I would hear him talking to me, but these were only on rare occasions.. I remember him telling me that possessing me the way he did just to talk to me drained him, so I forbade him to talk to me, I told him that he had to keep his strength to fight the angel of death. I wish I could have helped him in that fight.. I would have loved to kick the angel's winged ass back to whatever gate she came from.

Pulling the shirt over my head, I look in the mirror in the bathroom, I don't look like I am going to work, if it wasn't for the gold shield that sat on my hip, I wouldn't have believed that I was going back to work after being off for almost three weeks. I still cant believe that I am leaving the uniform at home.. I will be back in it again one day.. as soon as Bosco is ready to go back to the street I vowed that I would be right beside him in David.

Giving myself another once over in the mirror, I come face to face with Bosco, he is standing right behind my shoulder, he has a proud look on his transparent face, looking into his eyes I can see the pride and the sorrow that he is not able to join me physically.

I find myself talking to the mirror, hoping that nobody walks in on me, knowing that if they saw me talking to a mirror they would recommend me for admittance to the psych ward. I can almost see the smirk on Bosco's face when they put me in a white jacket that does up around the back, carting me off to the funny farm.

"Bosco, I don't know if I can do this... I mean I don't know if I am cut out being Detective."

From behind me I hear Bosco's faint reply:

"You can do this Faith, I know you can.. I have faith in you.. they wouldn't have promoted you if they didn't think you could do it.. I will help you every way I can"

And the voice is gone.. in the mirror Bosco's figure is a little more transparent and I know that he strained himself too much talking to me.

"Thanks... I needed to hear that...And thanks for being with me... with you helping me I know I can do this."

With the confidence of knowing that Bosco would be looking over my shoulder I head out the door and off to my first day as a detective.

55

Figures my first case as a detective is a stinker... passing the mirror behind the door I catch a glimpse of Bosco running out of it.. good at least his sense of smell hasn't been altered in any way.

I ended up being partnered with Jelly and so far I honestly don't like it.. I have to tolerate it but I don't like it.. he is more cantankerous than Bosco, especially when it comes to food and when he can eat.. I swear the man is one step away from having a personal all you can eat buffet following him, every time I look over he has something in his hand, well that would attest to his gargantuan size, but taking a meal break every ½ hour was getting on my nerves.

I watched as he rewound the tape of our suicide vic, I couldn't watch it when he pulled the trigger, I just couldn't do it.. it reminded me too much of Bosco.. about how close he came to death..

I argued with Jelly about processing the tapes.. I wanted to watch them just to see if there as any next of kin that I could notify about the unfortunate events of the suicide. I found myself trying not to knock Jelly into next week when he said that I could do what I wanted and that he had a date with a pasta bazoule...so I took the tapes and then took another look at Ty and then looking for his rookie.. some kid named Finney, supposedly some IAB captains son.. and I felt a twinge of guilt for not helping them out in processing this mess,

"I'm Sorry Ty.."

Ty looks back at me and smiles as he shrugs his shoulder and looks towards the bathroom where Finney was retching into the toilet, must be the kids first stinker..

"Don't worry Faith, its not your job anymore"

Turning around I feel a faint warmth on my shoulder that snakes around the side and I know Bosco regained control of his "stomach" and was back with me..

I feel the pang of loss that both he and I felt when Ty said that to me and I thought,

I know Bos I wish it still was too...

55

Watching the tapes of Aaron telling me the events of his life and the lessons that his mother taught him make the day go by a little quicker, and then he mentioned about Cindy.. about how great she is with the kids and how she would be a great girlfriend to him and how he was in love with her. Watching the tapes of Aaron rave on and on about this Cindy lady it makes me think of Bosco.. and how much I miss having him here for advice, the warm touch on my shoulders assures me that he is still with me but I would rather have him here in person.

"Bitch!...that selfish little WHORE!"

The tone in Aaron's voice attracts my attention for a moment as he rants on about how Cindy was caught kissing another man.. well there goes that theory about Cindy being his girlfriend.. so now I am looking for another next of kin... and then there was the line that got me..

"there is only one solution to this.. she has to die..."

What... Looking back at the tape that now captivates my full attention watching the tapes more closely I watch as he plans his own suicide but he leaves out one detail.. how he is going to take Cindy out with him.. well I know that he shot himself, but what I don't know is how he is going to kill Cindy because this is the last tape in the series...

Frantically thinking on what tape I might be missing I clue into the fact that the only thing that I haven't seen yet is his suicide.. well I saw it but I didn't have the tape here.. it was still in the video machine at the crime scene.. Sifting through the boxes of evidence that I had carted into my office I find the tape recorder and take out the cassette inside it, popping it into the tape converter and then into the VCR I rewind it all the way back to the beginning of the tape. Cringing I watch as Aaron assembled a bomb and explained how it would detonate as soon as Cindy opened the lid and then I watched as he slid the bomb into a mail bag... he was sending it priority mail.. and he has been dead for at least a couple of days.. which meant that I had until today or tomorrow to find her. Running to Swersky's office I had to get his help in on this, if I had any chance of finding her I would need all the manpower that I could muster.

55

I wish I could help her out.. I wish I knew where the hell this Cindy was.. especially after hearing her say to Jelly how much time they had to find her before the bomb did. I thought about asking the Angel if she might know who Cindy was but no luck. It figures the only time that I need the angel she isn't here to help me out.. and the other times I just want her to go away she hangs around, ahhh Faith is a bright cookie she will figure it out, but I can do everything that I can to help her.

Faith stands in front of the board that she set up with the times and dates of the tapes.. she keeps looking at it, going over it over and over again, searching for a clue that might help her with finding out more about where we can find Cindy, so far I heard that the street crew have had no luck trying to find her.. so now its up to Faith and what little help that I can give her.. looking at the numbers and dates I see Jelly come in and start talking to Faith.. I don't know why but I always block him out when I hear him talking.. I guess its because he is a detective and they usually tend to think that they are above us.. so I just concentrate on the board and that's when it comes to me.. why the hell didn't I think of it before?? Touching Faith's shoulder I take a deep breath and step inside her body to bridge her thoughts with mine, allowing me to talk to her..

"Faith look at the numbers.. every time this nut job sees her its on a weekday he doesn't stalk her on the weekends"

Her mind echoes back to me..

"Your right Boz.. and he only tapes between these times.. he always shuts the tape off at the same time and starts it again at the same time.."

"Faith those look like school hours to me... Oh my God.. Faith she is a parent.. she is going to be picking her kids up from school at that time.. oh my god Faith you gotta get there before she opens the bomb or she is going to kill all the kids around her too!!"

I feel the panic rise in her body as it rises in mine.. I am sure back at the hospital I have heart monitors going wild but I don't care... she must have said something out loud about the school thing because Jelly is telling her that there is only one school in the general vicinity of where he lives in the time it would take him to walk there and back..

"Faith you gotta get there.. you gotta save those kids.."

I feel the strength leave my body as I am forced to break the connection before I give too much and that would allow the Angel the opportunity to take me without a fight.. hanging on to what little strength I have left I follow Faith as she runs though the house to tell Swersky and to gather all the manpower she can find.. and not forgetting calling the Bomb Squad.

Not even waiting for Jelly who was waddling behind her puffing to try and keep up with Faith as she grabbed the keys to the RMP and slid into the drivers seat, after cursing at Jelly to "Move his ass" she starts the car with a roar and tears off down the street leaving me standing at the door.. I don't worry I have my own way of getting there.

55

Arriving at the school I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into there were kids everywhere, spilling out of the doors and into the street, parents picking them up.. so many of them everywhere.. I don't even know where to start looking.. I wish I had some sense of direction.. somewhere to turn to.. some landmark to start with.

"Where is she Faith?"

I look at Jelly and then I keep looking around the school yard where our presence is now being detected and were getting some attention

"I don't know.. they are everywhere.."

I feel the now familiar presence of Bosco, and then I hear his voice as I feel him enter me again as he did before..

"Faith the picture.. think about the picture he drew"

My mind flashes back to the picture that reminded me of something that a child would have done. It was a picture of a girl and her kids standing in front of a giant American Flag, looking around I locate one plastered to a wall and right below it stands a girl with red hair, surrounded by kids..

At the same time I say it I hear Bosco say in my mind..

"She is teacher.. she doesn't have kids, her students are her kids,"

Looking again I see that she has a package, my heart stops as I see that she is holding the bomb.. I have to get it away from her, making a beeline over to Cindy I walk as fast as I can without drawing attention to myself.

"Cindy.. can I talk to you for a second?"

She looks up at me confused and her kids are now looking at me and then looking at the badge that hangs on my waist, telling them that I am not a bad guy.. that I am someone who wants to help them.

I hardly remember the conversation that followed but she managed to get the kids away from her..

"What's this all about?"

"Cindy there is a bomb in that package, don't open it because its set to go off as soon as you open the lid. I am going to take the box..."

"Faith you don't want to do that just wait for the Bomb Unit."

I didn't even realize that Jelly was right behind me..

"Jelly look at al the kids around here, I am taking the bomb, hand it over gently, careful.. careful.. nice and slow.."

Taking the bomb from Cindy I start walking across the schoolyard, I look at the bomb and I cant stop shaking.. and then I feel that familiar warmth invade my body and my shaking stops, I know that Bosco is inside me again, taking control and helping me walk this package to the middle of the schoolyard.

"Easy now Faith.. I wont let you drop this.. I don't need you here too.. its hell enough that one of us is here.. I cant have you here with me too.."

"Thanks Boz.. where can I leave this where it will be safe if it goes off... where can I put it where it wont kill anyone?"

Looking around with my eyes Bosco pulls my body in a direction and I see where he is going.. he is headed towards the dodge ball court.. that would be perfect.. walking a little faster I am aware of the click click click my heels are making on the asphalt. Reaching the center of the court I bend at the knees and start to set the package down.

"Careful Faith... you can do this... just set it on the square and leave"

Placing the bomb in the middle of the square I shakily get to my feet and walking as fast as I can I practically run back to Jelly who is standing at the gate to the playground practically biting his nails.

Making it though the gate I finally realize that Bosco is gone.. I don't see him anywhere and I know that he is no longer in me because I don't feel his presence in my body anymore.

Accepting praise from Jelly and everyone else I just want to get out of here and get back to my Bosco's side. But there is paperwork to be done and I am the unfortunate one who has to do it. So I might as well get cracking at it.. forget it I will take it with me.. I am getting a little worried now because I don't know what happened to Bosco.. he left me so suddenly... I was worried because he was talking to me quite a bit, he might have overworked himself and now he might be dead...

Walking over to the RMP I order Jelly to drop me off at Mercy and not to ask any questions, hell he knows better by now. Running up the stairs and running down the corridor to the familiar room where I have spent so much time in since they brought him here, the feeling of dread I have worsens as I realize that I am running after a team of doctors, all heading for Bosco's room, oh God please no.. don't let him be dead.. he cant be dead... the light above the door is flashing wildly as I round the corner to find the doctors crowded around his bed.. with shaky legs I approach the bed and as I muse a little space I am greeted with the biggest shock that I think that I will ever have in my life... and then as soon as the squeak left my lips the world went dark as I fell to the floor..

55

That took it right out of me.. talking to Faith for all that time without having the chance to rest, but it was worth it.. if I die now I will be happy knowing that all those kids are safe.. but possessing her that last time left me feeling like I had been hit with a Mack truck.

"Maurice"

Oh god not now.. I don't have the patience to deal with her now.. turning around I realize that I am back in my room.. looking at my body in the bed, and standing beside it is the Angel, she looks at me and then looks at my body.

"Tell the Gatekeeper I am not going.. when will you get the bloody point? I am not going with you.. I don't want to go with you.. GO AWAY!"

She looks hurt but I no longer care.. I just want to rest.. I look at my hands and notice that they are much more transparent than usual. I know that I am weak and if she tries to come and take me I cant fight her off like I would normally be able to.. she has me and she knows it..

"Don't you see I still need to be here? I need to stay here with Faith.. my work isn't done yet! I need to be with her, I need to help her, I need to finish what I started.. please tell me you cant see that.. look at the kids I helped save today.."

"Maurice its time... the Gatekeeper saw what you did and how you protected the innocent lives of those kids, he decided to give you another chance at life, you have to make him one deal."

Deal.. why does that sound like I am making a deal with the devil.. but I want to stay with Faith.. so I guess I have no choice..

"What is it?"

The Angel looks at me and touches my cheek, I feel some strength returning to me but it is gone as soon as she pulls away

"Women.. you have to give up women, at least for the purposes of casual relationships... you have no idea how long your rap is for that..."

Looking down I know that its true.. I have had more women the ½ the Manhattan yellow pages.. but I realize that I don't want any woman.. at least if her name is not Faith then I don't want her.. I just want my Faith and no one else..

Nodding I agree swearing to God and whoever she wants me to promise to.. she sweeps her wings aside and reveals my broken body lying on the bed walking over to the side I notice that my monitors are going wild.. my body is dying.. NO! this cant happen!! I look at the Angel and just as I was about to yell at her she looks at me and says.

"Without a soul the body dies.. if you want to save yourself you know what to do Maurice.."

Nodding I leap over the side of the bed to land in my body just as the doctors come rushing into the room ready to save me.. possessing my body again I feel the familiar warmth as the body I had vacated for a week shuddered as I took control over it, forcing my lungs to work again, forcing my heartbeat to slow and finally I force my eyes to open, the first thing I see, aside from the doctors that surround my bedside, is Faith as she muses a little space, opening my eyes fully and looking at her I try and smile.. and then I hear a small squeak from her as her eyes roll back in her head and she falls to the floor.


End file.
